Police in southern Vietnam have stopped a poultry slaughtering firm from operating after it was caught using dark-colored chemicals to remove feathers.

The environmental police department of Hau Giang Province said on Monday that a unit had opened an investigation and restricted operation at the poultry slaughterhouse of Le Dai Loi in Long My Town.

On Monday, police officers carried out a food inspection in Long Phu Commune, Long My, Hau Giang, and found Loi’s facility to be using chemicals to remove their poultry’s feathers.

They also found the firm’s wastewater being pumped directly into the environment.

The inspectors detected workers soaking 600 ducks and chickens into a blackish liquid mixture, allegedly containing pine resin, to pull out their feathers.

Pine resin is prohibited by the health ministry in food processing, according to newswire VnExpress.

There were more than 2,000 poultry clear of feathers in the facility’s warehouse, police reports said, adding that the department had also sealed 121 containers of 2,662 already de-feathered animals.

Loi confessed to authorities that after being killed, the poultry, usually ducks, were being drenched into the chemicals and then soaked in cold water until the black substance covering their bodies turned solid.

Workers would then remove the black layer; and the ducks’ feathers would automatically be removed.

Loi also admitted that his facility slaughters an average of 2,500 ducks a day.

Police said that the chemical samples had been taken for identification and consideration of appropriate action.

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